ParvoBuster Blog

Terrie bought our products back in June 2008 when her neighbour brought a Parvo-infected dog on to her property.

Quite rightly, Terrie was very concerned about the risk to her own dogs, and so ordered our products so that she could give her dogs a preventive dose.

Six months later, just before Christmas, she emailed us to say that her granddaughter was meant to be visiting for the holidays, but her puppy had just developed Parvo, so what should she do to protect her own dogs.

Our reply was as follows:

Thanks for your email.

You are obviously right to be concerned about this situation, and our first recommendation would be that your granddaughter should stay home and look after her puppy.

This is not only because her puppy should be her first concern, but also because the Parvo virus can be spread on clothing and shoes. This means that wherever she goes, then anybody and anything she comes into contact with will get Parvo virus particles deposited on them. These virus particles will then be carried elsewhere, infecting a load of other people and animals en route, as it only takes a small number of these particles (as few as 100, which is nothing compared to the 95 million particles in just one gram of infected feces!) to cause full-blown Parvo symptoms to develop.

If she’s travelling to you by car, then the problem is relatively contained, but if she’s using any form of public transportation, then other people and their dogs will be put at risk.

However, we appreciate that this is Christmas-time, so here is what we would suggest.

1. If she can bring her puppy with her (by car only - she should certainly not take a Parvo-infected dog on public transport) and you have enough products left to administer a full course of treatment to her puppy as well as the five-day prevention course to your own dogs, then you ought to do this.
2. She should remove her shoes when she arrives, and leave them outside by the door. If you have any shoes or slippers that would fit her, you should lend her these, as you will know that these are clean (whereas if she brought her own slippers with her, say, then there is a high probability that these will be infected too).
3. Ideally, you should also provide some other clothes she can wear while she stays, and ask her to change into them after taking a shower when she arrives. Her own clothes can either be put in some form of trash bag and taken home with her, or perhaps laundered if she will be with you long enough.
4. She must wash her hands using an anti-bacterial soap when she arrives and throughout her stay, especially before handling any food items or any of your own dogs. This will help to reduce the possibility of passing on the virus particles, but it will not get rid of the Parvo. As you know, the only substance known to kill Parvo virus is bleach (used in a 1:30 dilution), but it is clearly not wise or practical to wash your hands using this.

We know these measures may seem severe, but you already know first-hand how devastating Parvo can be.

And if she does still decide to visit, then you should definitely give all of your dogs a full five-day prevention dose, to be on the safe side.

We then played our usual record about no vaccinations and building up her dogs’ immune system, but our main recommendation was that her granddaughter should not visit.

Terrie replied to us to thank us and to say that she had told her granddaughter to wait until the puppy was better before visiting (and to order some of our products).

So, why have we posted Terrie’s story in the Dog-Gone Clever category?

Well, there are two main reasons:

1. Having already had a Parvo scare herself earlier in the year, she asked our advice before doing anything else. Remember, we have extensive knowledge about Parvo and how to treat it, and our support (including 24 x 7 phone support, which we extend free of charge to all of our customers) does not only apply during the Parvo treatment itself, but afterwards too, as we will always be happy to give you our best advice on doggie-related health issues.
2. Having received our advice, she took it, even though it was Christmas time and she really wanted to see her granddaughter. We know this must have been a hard decision for Terrie, but it was the right one, because Parvo, especially the 2c strain, is super-aggressive (even fully-vaccinated adult dogs are getting Parvo and dying if not treated), fast-acting (dogs are dying in less than 12 hours after symptoms first appear) and so very easily transmitted (please read our article entitled “How Did My Dog Get Parvo?“).

Technorati Tags: parvo, vaccinations

One Response to “Terrie From California”

1. Lonnie Ihnen Says:
   December 28th, 2009 at 9:41 am

   Hi there, I found your blog via Google while searching for something else but your post / blog looks very interesting for me.

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